Who Needs Feminism? Black Women AND MEN Have a Face and Voice in Viral Campaign

April 16th, 2012 - By Bianca Clendenin

A recent campaign on Facebook called, Who Needs Feminism? has sparked some controversy all over the web. Originally started by 16 women who attend Duke University, they created this campaign to combat the negative images that resonate with people when they hear the world feminism:

“Identify yourself as a feminist today and many people will immediately assume you are man-hating, bra-burning, whiny liberal. Perhaps a certain charming radio talk show host will label you as a “Feminazi” or “S**t.” Even among more moderate crowds, feminism is still seen as too radical, too uncomfortable, or simply unnecessary. Feminism is both misunderstood and denigrated regularly on a broad societal scale.”

Inspired by a Women in the Public Sphere course at Duke University, these 16 young women have decided to fight back and teach people what they believe it truly means to be a feminist.  The idea that many people believe we don’t need feminism anymore is frightening. Women are still degraded and objectified in the media, women are still not given equal pay even though many exceed most men in education, women are still being told what they can and can’t do with their own bodies. Simply put, we’re still getting the short end of the stick.

What I really like about this campaign is that it allows women and men who are usually not the face of feminism to have a voice. Middle class white woman have always been the main vehicle for feminism, which has somewhat excluded women of color, queer identified people, and transgender people.  I also like that men are entering into the conversation, because feminism isn’t about the equality of just women, but men too.

Even now, when you ask people what they think a feminist is, they will most likely think of some radical white woman who doesn’t shave and hates all men. When in actuality, people like me, a 21-year old black female in college, identifies as a feminist/womanist.

As great as feminism is, why do women of color have to create another movement to gain recognition? Why is it that in 2012, we still have to question this? As a young black feminist, I sometimes find myself outside of the conversation. I attend the meetings of my college’s feminism group and the lack of faces that look like mine is staggering. Many women of color either feel feminism isn’t for them and/or feel that the issues that pertain to them don’t get addressed, so they wonder why they need to get involved.

It’s nice to see college students take the initiative to tackle an important issue, I just hope in the future that more young black women will feel confident enough to call themselves feminists.

Do you believe we still need feminism? Does feminism play a part in your life?

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  • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_3JD2DZYKQFHAMU3A7AYHGGJT7A Allison Briscoe

    They (women of color) question if it isn’t for them, well traditionally speaking it hasn’t. Feminism has served middle-class white women dealing with their issues, and it hasn’t had the greatest history of being as inclusive as some claim it to be. It’s not that I’m against for the movements stand for, I just don’t see myself when I see feminism. With this being said I would love to see more POC and queer individuals in this campaign. 

  • MixedUpInVegas

    Clearly the men posting here do not support feminism.

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Chad-Thiggins/100000547068836 Chad Thiggins

    Feminism has been around for a long time and had earned it’s anti-male reputation, and continues to push for anti-male policies and legislation.

  • LadyLark

    Messages written on the signs are on point. Great marketing…but I hate politics and pushing an agenda.

  • Korey

    I am a feminist because I believe that I should be able to speak out against women being shafted without being seen as angry. Also, because I have to speak up for myself. Yes, I’ve gone farther than my mother’s generation but I want my daughters to go farther than me. And feminism would not have been needed if we trusted society would do right by women… But it hasn’t… we have a political party that is so vehemently against the government infringing on people’s day to day lives but the same party believes that they should have say so of what goes on in my uterus. 

  • KIR12

    Those girls are being brainwashed by their liberal and feminist professors. The white elitist, liberals and feminist reject the traditional nuclear family and are pushing their Alternative or New Familial Structure. 2 men, 2 women, Single mother… everything goes. They have normalized illegitimacy and multiple baby daddies. Illegitimacy was stigmatized and overwhelmingly rejected in the black community pre 1960′s (from 1900 to 1960 illegitimacy was between 10 to 24%). They now have black women and emasculated black men thinking that illegitimacy and dysfunction has always been black culture,wrong! Illegitimacy is the root cause of every black social issue facing the black community. High Illegitimacy leads to high academic failure, which leads to high dropout rates, which leads to high rates of unemployment, which leads to high rates of poverty, which leads to high rates of crime. All of which lead to dysfunctional homes, schools and communities. They then get black women and emasculated black men to push liberalism & feminism and trumpet the benefits blacks gained from those movements but refuse to address the negative results of those very same movements and their flawed social engineering programs. They blame all the black race failures on those evil Republicans and conservatives to the non critically thinking common black folk. After 50 years and 4 generations, we now know the truth. I’m not saying liberalism, progressivism and feminism doesn’t work. I’m just telling you it doesn’t work in the hood. This ghetto Matriarchal society has been a disaster, a living nightmare, in the black community. No black men in the home, 31% of African American women by their early forties have never married, 72% black illegitimacy, 50%, abortions, 50% of black kids drop out of H.S., black unemployment 16%, black teen unemployment 46% and only 7% of businesses. Shall I continue….. I think not. It’s too depressing. A community is judged solely on it’s development of it’s kids. If that’s not a compete absolute failure I don’t know what is. The future AT THIS TIME is already set in stone for the black community. It’s called “A Permanent Underclass”. The black community will never be productive with 72% illegitimacy and no men in the home. It has never been done in the history of civilization by any race, fact. Until the liberals and feminist acknowledge this nothing will change in the black communities. In the 50′s & early 60s, black women were initially hostile to feminist and this new way of raising families. Paying poor black women who didn’t have a man in the home for irresponsible behavior (every kid she had) changed that ie through welfare. She no longer needed the poor black man to put a roof over her head, food on the table for her and the kids and clothes on their back. Hell, she even had a couple of bucks leftover for smokes.

    Yes, black women are now going to college but less than 18% graduate. What about the other 82% of black girls/women? These are the majority of black women/girls having kids. Think about it like this. Who had a better life. Shaniqua, post black feminism and social engineering programs, never married living alone on welfare with her 4 kids by 3 different men in a dysfunctional black community with the majority of other black women also single baby mammas OR her great great grand mother Martha Louise who got married in 1950 at age 18 and her and her husband had 6 kids. They were poor and faced racism, discrimination ect. but raised the kids together in a stable black community where other black husbands and wives also raised their kids. Who had a better life Martha lou or Shaniqua? Which kids were in a better home? I’m not advocating going back to the 1950′s I’m just pointing out that this Matriarchal Utopia Lie the feminist and liberals promised you all needs to be reevaluated. Keep what works but you must reject (loudly) this Feminist big lie “The man is wanted but not NEEDED in the home”. The white feminist are going home to their husbands or at a minimum communities full of homes headed by men.

    • pinkandgreenallover

      You presented two false choices for women between some 1950′s models where nobody had choices but I guess they had their dignity and and the stereotypical woman on welfare which for some reason (oh that’s right your opinion) you blame on feminism. The reality is that many single women raising kids a) do have an education and b) would welcome a decent man but have decided one  way or or another to go on ahead with life. The matriarchal society existed long ago, not all white feminists are going home to husbands, and why is there not critique of inappropriate male actions and choices just a long rant about feminism and liberals which actually any white person could also hear from their freindly talk show pundit feminism/liberals and hey lets throw in the gays ruined society with their gay/liberal/feminist agenda and now the answer is to drag us all back to a time when women knew their place and men could get somebody to grab them a beer and shut the hell up. Uh Huh.

      • Jimmy Swaggerd

        Interesting debate KIR12 and PinkandGreen…

        Maybe you’re both right.  Black men are definitely needed in black households and pretending they aren’t is ridiculous.  But let’s be honest, a lot of the reason black men aren’t around is because many refuse to grow up.  At the same time, let’s not demonize men who want “somebody to grab them a beer and shut the hell up”.  As a married black man with two kids, my beers and rare moments of silence are well deserved.  Like I said, maybe you’re both right…

        • KIR12

          Cause and effect my brother. Cause and effect. I already briefly articulated where I think the black woman went wrong. She was not always lost. Now, regarding the black man. I’d say yes, today, their are a lot of black men who are bums, players, thug&convicts. But the question has to be asked how did they get that way? There is much historical documented data that shows the black man didn’t always abandon the the black woman. As a matter of fact, there were some decades between 1900 to 1960 that show the black woman married at a higher percentage than white women. We also know that up until 1960 almost every black kid had a father in the home.These are facts not pie in the sky revisionist history.

          What happened to the black man and the black family? Today 31 percent of African American women by their early forties have never married as compared to only 9 percent of White, 11 percent of Asian, and 12 percent of Latino women in the same age group. How did the black woman go from the woman with the highest percentage of marriage to the lowest in less than 50 years? The answer in right in front of our face we just don’t want to accept the reality of it. Blacks have been used as human guinea pigs by White elitist, liberals, socialist and feminist and their crazy ideas on family and having productive communities. The social engineering of White elitist, feminist (the man is not NEEDED in the home) and progressive liberals who think they’re smarter than everyone else has done something that 400 years of slavery, Jim crow and discrimination were unable to do. Destroy the black family and black community. If the black man is no longer in the home who is going to learn and who is going to teach him how to be a responsible man? You see Uncle Sam just doesn’t make for a good baby daddy.

      • KIR12

        You’ve got so many inaccuracies I don’t know where to begin.
        a) Many single women raising kids have and education?
        What’s your definition of education.

        b) Would welcome a decent man?
        Decent should have been considered before an UNMARRIED woman had a baby without a committed man in the first place don’t you think. Also this word (welcome) Do they think women NEED a man to help raise the kids or is the man just “welcome” or “wanted but not NEEDED” to raise the kids? Your mentality is wrong from the start. Even a bird with a tiny, tiny brain knows that you make a nest before laying the eggs.Can a child raised by a single parent become productive? OF COURSE THEY
        CAN! Can a community with 72%+ of it’s kids illegitimate and no men in
        the home become productive? I haven’t seen any evidence of this in the
        history of civilization by any race. Have you? So the point must be made
        and repeated often. This is not about your son or daughter this is
        about the community as a whole. Who cares if 2 or 3 black kids out of 10
        become successful and productive if the remaining 7 black kids fall
        through the cracks and perish? The community is still going to be
        dysfunctional

        3)The matriarchal society existed long ago.
        WRONG! WRONG! WRONG! I have researched this myth many times. There is not one nation in the history of civilization that has been a matriarchal nation. Not one. lol You’ve been thoroughly brainwashed.

        4)White Feminist
        The Feminist movement which was started by white and J ewish women never destroyed the white family because the people who reject liberals, progressive fundamentalist and feminism the most are conservative WHITE PEOPLE! lol

        5) Black men
        See my response to Jimmy Swaggerd. lol

    • StuckInDaMatrix

      Very beautiful!  Of course, with the majority of blacks begging for integration and white acceptance.  This will go over most heads.  These black students are being used as pawns to push this agenda.  Nothing more.  We’ll see what happens in 20 years.  Much like we can see now the ramifications of the Feminist movement.

      • KIR12

        It’s truly frightening. We almost already know where we’re headed with a 50% dropout rate of H.S. students and 72% illegitimacy and no men in the home. It’s called “Permanent Underclass”

        • StuckInDaMatrix

          Yes that’s true.  Unfortunately, those numbers are going to increase.  Sad all around I tell ya!

    • Jessevandell

      Great post. Very insightful.

      • KIR12

        Thanks

    • http://www.facebook.com/people/Chad-Thiggins/100000547068836 Chad Thiggins

      Black women and especially black men (who feminism truly opposes) that support feminism, in the inimitable words of one Malcolm X, done “been had! Ya been took! Ya been hoodwinked! Bamboozled! Led astray! Run amok!”

      As horrific as the published stats are on black boys and men getting murdered, being unemployed, on drugs, not graduating from high school, let alone going to college, feminism likes it that way. They could not possibly care less. Their singular focuse is to garner sympathy and government and private funding for white girls and women. They are just using these poor young people to further their agenda.

      If they cared the least bit about equality, the plight of black boys and men would be a key part of their platform, message, and agenda. It’s not because they could not possibly care less what happens and is done to Trayvon Martin and the rest of our black boys and young men.

      • KIR12

        I think you might like these (Google)
        “RIP Black America”
        (it’s 1,2&3)

        “Katy Perry launches Man Hating Marine Recruitment Video”
        ( I don’t agree with everything he says but he has a very interesting take on feminism and the black community)

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